Category: Weird World Web

Miscellaneous geekery

A girl band I’d like to hear, or at least see. (Via Project Rooftop.)

Catwoman on ice. (Via Eve Tushnet.)

Ball-peen hammers in World of Warcraft. (Via Nightfly.) Posted in revenge for this (eye protection recommended).

The dark side of World of Warcraft.

I’ve probably mentioned this article before, but it’s worth posting again: my favorite living writer on Tolkien. (Via John C. Wright.)

The Hairball of St. Felix.

Myriad menaces

Goodbye Kitty
Goodbye Kitty

(Via Dustbury.)

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Why I don't have ads on my sites
Why I don't have ads on my sites

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I'm with Eineus
I'm with Eineus

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Old-fashioned nightmare fuel.

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The OED fails.

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Fortunately, I’m not a Linux user.

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And now for something perhaps a little less frightening: a friend of my brother has released a new tune. If you like loud music, give it a listen. It has more cowbell.

This post is brought to you by the letter “K”

Recent searches that brought visitors here:

charles solomon doesn’t like anime — Who’da thunk it?

analisis de cat soup and cat soup analysis — Cat Soup makes more sense if you don’t analyze it.

anime about knitting, anime knitting, knitting anime costume, anime knitting pictures — What exactly is the connection between anime and knitting? Can the Japanese be trusted with balls of yarn?

kawaii german — Yes, it is possible to be both cute and German.

kawaii fujiyama — When I think of examples of “kawaii,” volcanoes don’t immediately come to mind.

critics of kawaii — We’ve had New Criticism, Marxism, Deconstruction, Postcolonialism, Feminism, Postmodernism and worse, so why not Kawaii Theory?

kawaii student organizer — Is this someone who works with cute students, or someone cute who makes a nuisance of herself?

… and inevitably, kawaii knitting.

spike jones your red scarf matches lyrics — I think you mean Guy Marks.

mahou shoujo angst — She needs more ruffles.

divergence eve misaki chronicles nude scene — Divergence Eve is not a good choice for fanservice. The story keeps getting in the way.

Digital archaeology

tancos.net was originally a GeoCities site, back at the dawn of the modern era. It was mainly a place to post pictures. If I remember correctly, I initially had a total of 10 megabytes of space — or was it 5? — available on the Geocities server, so the pictures had to be small. I eventually got premium account, partly for more space, partly to get rid of the damned pop-ups. Some years later I got a better hosting deal elsewhere and, after an arduous search of the Geocities site for the not-really-secret-but-curiously-hard-to-find relevant menu, cancelled my membership.

A year ago, the USA GeoCities site was shut down, though there is still a Japanese version extant. Before that, some organizations archived the GeoCities content. If you have a really fast connection and a spare terabyte drive, you can now download all of GeoCities as a 900-gigabyte torrent.

Captain Broccoli and Ms. Doom

In case you can’t understand the actors, the shows mentioned are Otome Youkai Zakuro, Squid Girl, Tamayura and Mahou Tsukai Sally. Also, it’s difficult hear the difference between “Miss” and “Ms.,” much to Ms. Doom’s annoyance.

If the embedded video above doesn’t work, you can watch it here.

Books as investments

What does $1,186.27 look like?

If that had been the paperback edition of Lafferty in Orbit, you’d be looking at $2,162.26. However, a hardcover like the one pictured is available for a mere $23.98.

By the way, if you ever spot any collection of Lafferty’s stories in a used book store — Nine Hundred Grandmothers, Strange Doings, Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add, Ringing Changes, Lafferty in Orbit, Iron Tears — grab it. There never was any other writer like him.

Holiday shopping

If you’re planning to corrupt youthful acquaintances with anime this Christmas, you might want to check out the current weekly specials at RightStuf. Among the drivel and trash are such things as the complete sets of Bottle Fairy and Mao-chan, each for $15, both suitable for all ages (but keep them away from jackass anime critics). For school-age and older, there’s Petite Princess Yucie for $26. The outstanding bargain is the complete collection of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit for $20. Moribito was the third-best show of the banner year 2007 ((Second-best was Oh! Edo Rocket, due out soon from Funimation. The best was Dennou Coil, which remains unlicensed.)) and I can recommend it unreservedly for all grade-school age and older. The protagonist, Balsa, was my choice for the outstanding anime babe of all time.

Eldritch prose

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Depending on which sample of text I use, I also write like Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown (ugh), Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Chuck Palahnuik, Isaac Asimov, Daniel Defoe, Margaret Atwood, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Oscar Wilde or James Joyce. But not R.A. Lafferty or Flann O’Brien. Oh well, nobody else can really write like them, either.

Actually, when I read my writing, it just sounds like me.

Update: A bit of background about that site.

More Zhzhh

Exceedingly miscellaneous links and videos.

Via Jonathan T., Jonathan C. on “adapting” anime for western viewers.

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From kowai to kawaii: the Queen of Night’s aria, sung by Hatsune Miku:

Update: This aria (but not this particular “performance”) has been voted one of the top ten arias of all time. (Via Steven R.)

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Mono no aware: Steven Greydanus on the trailer for Tales of Earthsea:

Here is a mainstream Japanese animated film with a trailer that has an evocative, haunting power that eludes virtually the whole of American animation—and that’s just the trailer. And it’s not just American animation either, but pretty much the whole Hollywood machine. What was the last Hollywood box-office blockbuster that made you think of beauty, loss, longing and mystery? (Yes, other than The Lord of the Rings.)

Whether this particular film turns out to be good or not, it’s part of a cinematic culture that aims at, and sometimes achieves, something that isn’t even on the radar in Hollywood. This trailer reminds me of how I felt during the first five minutes of Howl’s Moving Castle, even though the film ultimately turned out to be a disappointment: Just the promise of the first five minutes, even a promise unfulfilled, was worth more than some American animation studios have delivered in whole films if not their entire outputs.

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American mecha: spiders for now, but eventually they’ll get to Gundams and EVAs (via the Borderline Sociopath):

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The Lelouch Lamperouge Picture Show: Is there such a thing as “anime camp”?

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I suppose it’s not that surprising that there is a large fanfiction community devoted to Ranma 1/2-Sailor Moon crossovers. Still, I did not expect to find a Sailor Ranko webcomic.

Ash cloud in Ohio

I knew that there are active volcanoes along the west coast and in Alaska and Hawaii, and that Yellowstone might explode catastrophically at any moment during the next million years, but I didn’t realize that there are also erupting volcanoes in the midwest until I read this headline: “Small ash emission from a Cleveland, OH volcano.” Gee, I hope TSO and Maureen are okay. ((This is the mountain in question.))

(Via Eruptions.)

Those who are fascinated by volcanoes might be interested in a recent addtion to my links, Volcano Picture of the Week.

The Kabuki mullet and root-level physics

More than you ever wanted to know about the Japanese music industry.

(Via Anime Instrumentality Blog.)

Speaking of mullets …

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In case there is anyone on the planet who still hasn’t seen the grandest of all Pythagorean devices:

Here’s a story and some videos about it.

(Via Steven Riddle.)

Update: here’s another noteworthy contraption currently under construction:

(Via the Borderline Sociopath.)